Neutral
by Morgana
Summary: Deep in the void of space, a comet whooshes by.... It is protecting a small girl, whose fate may change our world....


Neutral- Chapter 1

> A/N: Welcome to my second Sailor Moon fic. This takes place sort of in the same time frame as Sailor Moon, but kinda behind-the-scenes. Like all my fics. Sigh. Anyway, this character was created to go with my friend Eternal Sailor Chibi's Sailor Star. It's sorta like At Winter's End, except that this one is more of a life story than an adventure. Enjoy it, and, as always, in the words of the MischeifMakers, "we love reviews they make us happy." 
> 
> Note: I'm going with dub names for everything 'cause I don't speak Japanese so I've never actually seen the original. 
> 
> Disclaimer: You know, I'm getting to hate these things. Sailor Moon, the Sailor Scouts, the concepts of awakening, crystals, transformation, and the attacks, the Silver Millennium, ect. ect. belong to Naoko Takeuchi, DiC, and a whole bunch of other companies. However, I claim ownership of Seira, Princess Seirana, Sailor Comet, Saeliope, the Comet sign, the Forces of Darkness, the plot, and all names that aren't common. 
> 
> _Neutral_
> 
> 1   
**Awakening**
> 
> Cold. 
> 
> Cold and dark. 
> 
> Cold and dark and _moving_. 
> 
> Those were her first impressions. Not in the exact words, of course; in fact she didn't know what a language was and so thought purely, not tainted by constricting wording. 
> 
> Later, she discovered the inside of her chamber was rock. She felt a protective bubble around her huddled body. She knew no passage of time... no night or day. Her sense of sight was almost completely useless, a faint glow from the bubble being her only source of light. 
> 
> As far as she knew she was the only person in the universe. 
> 
> And through it all, that constant gentle movement. 
> 
> She could not know how fast she was hurtling through space, nor her eventual destiny. 
> 
> > > * 
> 
> Hmm. 
> 
> Quite an interesting little girl. Too bad she'll hit the sun eventually. 
> 
> Well, maybe not. Just a push here and a tug there... 
> 
> > > * 
> 
> She snapped awake from her blank doze. The very first thing she noticed was the absence of constant bone-numbing cold. In fact, it was... warm! A brand-new feeling, this warmth. She could get used to it. 
> 
> And _moving_! Much more than ever before, pressing her back, back to the very limits of her little bubble. 
> 
> _Impact_! Plummeting into blue... then the gentle float back up. Only her bubble now; the rock was gone. 
> 
> Drifting up through a wavy silver mirror at the top of the blue liquid... breaking through into the air. 
> 
> Light! Sound! Wind! The taste of salt on her tongue! For the first time, the gentle pull of gravity. 
> 
> This was more alive than she'd ever been! Totally overwhelmed, she drifted into her first real sleep, rocked by the waves and warmed by the sun. 
> 
> > > * 
> 
> The woman opened the door to get the mail. What she ended up with was a lot more. 
> 
> "Oh..." she whispered, clutching at her heart. Then, louder, "You poor dear..." She reached out her hand, crouched near the little girl. "It's all right, come here now...." 
> 
> The girl, who seemed to be a small four-year-old, was wearing a white dress and looked almost royal. But the woman blinked and the similarity was gone so fast she guessed she'd just been imagining it. 
> 
> The young girl made no move or sound, and the woman thought, I should check with the police and see if anyone's missing a lavender-haired girl. If not, maybe she can stay here. It's been so lonely here since William died. 
> 
> The widow took the hand of the little girl, and together they walked slowly back to the woman's front door. 
> 
> > > * 
> 
> "_You'll never take my Seira away_!" 
> 
> "Take it easy, ma'am," the officer reassured, throwing up his palms. "We're only gonna test her to see where she's from." 
> 
> "Yes, and you'll never bring her back! Unhand her this instant!" 
> 
> "Auntie!" the little girl screeched. "Auntie, _why_ can't I stay... mmph!" 
> 
> One of the men holding her had clamped his hand over her mouth. He didn't like this job, and he had a wife, two kids, and a football game waiting for him to get home. In other words, he wanted to get this over with. 
> 
> Seira, on the other hand, was near despair. She looked maybe six; it had taken the two years since she'd come for the bureaucratic red tape to part. She knew they wanted to know where she was from... but what sense did that make? Seira didn't know herself, and that had never particularly bothered her. And why did they have to take her away from everything she knew and loved? 
> 
> Tears slid from her bright black eyes. She lowered her head so all that could be seen of her face was obscured by her short lavender hair. They, she suddenly knew what to do. Took a deep breath. 
> 
> Next thing her captors knew, they were doubled over from small sharp elbows to the stomach and little hard feet to the shins. Seira pulled free. She held a small, black stick topped with an emblem: clearly a comet and a seven-pointed star. Thrusting the stick high in the air, she yelled at the top of her lungs, "COMET... MYSTERIOUS... POWER!" 
> 
> Enveloped by a spinning whirlwind of ice, her small form was covered by fog. Then she emerged. 
> 
> In bluish-lavender and deep violet, the newfound Sailor Scout stood her ground. 
> 
> "I am Sailor Comet!" she declared in a childish but somehow regal voice. "And you will _not_ harm me or my Auntie!" 
> 
> The scientists gawked. 
> 
> "Comet... Deep... Impact!" She hurled a ball of white energy at them. It hit the men like being socked in the stomach. 
> 
> "Goodbye, Auntie," she whispered to the astonished woman. "I can't stay here now." 
> 
> Then, before the scientists had time to react, she covered the whole scene in a deep and impenetrable fog, with a "Comet... Mystery... Shroud!" 
> 
> That was the last time any of them saw her. 
> 
> > > * 
> 
> In the black depths of the Pacific Ocean, a small fragment of rock stirred and began to glow a faint purplish light. 
> 
> It remembered, now... 
> 
> It remembered it had once been part of a planet, before it had been part of a comet. The stone could have easily fit in its young mistress's hand, yet it was the largest surviving piece of a planet that had once eclipsed ten nearby star systems in its ancient glory. A planet called Saeliope. 
> 
> Saeliope. A peaceful kingdom, its monarchs wise and well-loved. In some respects it resembled the Silver Millennium, even occupying the same time frame. King Swanr and his lovely Queen Mardyn lived in idyllic peace, watching their young daughter, Seirana, grow... 
> 
> All the good was shattered one day, when the Forces of Darkness invaded. 
> 
> They showed neither reason nor mercy, and enjoyed the wreckage they caused. Blackness and silence enveloped Saeliope. 
> 
> But just before she was killed and her planet destroyed, the Queen sealed her daughter in a comet, sending little Seirana in an almost timeless state to a new world. A new place where she might live her life in full. 
> 
> The crystal - it was no longer ignorant rock, but now nearly sentient - drifted with astonishing speed up to the surface, unerringly toward its young princess.


End file.
